Deceit

A Beastly Tale, Book 2

By: M.J. Haag

Narrated by: Sierra Kline

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

Safely hidden within the estate's enchanted walls, Benella no longer has time to fear her tormentors. She's too preoccupied attempting to determine what makes the beast so beastly. It might be the taxing visits from the aged enchantress who cursed him or his growing vexation at not being allowed to touch Benella.

In order to gain her freedom, she must find a way to break the curse, but first, she must help him become a better man while protecting her heart.

Intended for adult listeners due to sexual situations, violence, and moderate language.

©2015 Shattered Glass Publishing LLC (P)2016 Shattered Glass Publishing LLC

I'm in love! Doesn't hurt that some scenes fogged up my glasses

I love this telling of beauty and the beast. She is even strong in this story than the one I heard as a child.

She faces many hardships because of her sisters and how nice she is. I feel her niceness will be her undoing. She doesn't try to hold the monsters and the would be rapists at fault or try to find a way to stop them.

I so happy I decided to pick up this book it was a joy to listen to. The narrator is amazing she brought this tell to life.

Grab this book you will fall in love with it!

A long slow moving story

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A better edited story would have made this a wonderful listening experience.

Would you ever listen to anything by M.J. Haag again?

no

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The performance was the only saving grace in a story that went on too long.

What character would you cut from Deceit?

None

Any additional comments?

Depravity, Deceit and Devastation, the Beauty and the Beast trilogy by M.J. Haag should have been one book. The story drags on so long; you tire of Beauty, her nasty sisters and her good intentions. There’s so much potential with this story that editing could have fixed. I suffered through to the end but it wasn’t worth it.

All of Me

This series had all of me. It consumed me. The grit, pain, and triumph was all too much while not enough. Unforgettable. I beyond recommend this series to anyone and everyone.

No sophomore slump here

Love love love it on to part 3 for me! This is an adult retelling of my fave fairy tale and this installment is the most brutal. Secrets and lies all over the place.

Enhanced by Narration, a Connection Grows

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely! Of course, I would recommend listening to Book #1 first (Depravity). This story is so well-written, and Sierra Kline's narration brings the words to life. It a pleasant listening experience.

What did you like best about this story?

The growing connection between Benella and the Beast.

What about Sierra Kline’s performance did you like?

I love her accent, the array of voices she gives to the different characters, and the flow of the story as she narrates.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES! I almost did.

Any additional comments?

I love this set of audiobooks.

Love!!!! Steamiest of the three books!

I liked this series a lot but maybe liked this book the most. It was the steamiest of the three books. Not too many sexual scenes, just enough. Well written story and characters are so well developed. A good listen!!

interesting

listened to both books so far, they are interesting, different take kinda... but very predictable. I enjoy the beauty and beast story so I'm listening however if your not a fan of hearing the save story over again with a slight change, this would not be the story for you. If you do like it, by all means grab it

Audio brings this tale to life!

I had already read Deceit, A Beastly Tale book 2 in ebook but the audiobook is just amazing! It really brings so much depth to this already wonderful story! I can't recommend these books & audio editions enough. Warning: This is an adult retelling of Beauty & the Beast.

More ...just more feels than in print.

If you could sum up Deceit in three words, what would they be?

intense, shocking, hopeful

What other book might you compare Deceit to and why?

I honestly can't think of one.

What does Sierra Kline bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She brings the emotions in her voice. I read books emotionally, but there's something about HEARING emotions in a voice.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

OMG! It's done both, but the strongest emotion is tears. :(

Any additional comments?

I know I said this made me cry, but I've read all three books and I know how this is going to end. It's worth the tears in the end.

Great Story

I love everything about this book. The characters, writing development and pace. So many twists and turns that lead to a major cliffy.

In Deceit, we learn more about the beast and slowly see the underlining of his layers. It was so welcoming and refreshing. Benella shows great growth and maturity but still shows us that being naive or vulnerable isn't ways bad...

Sierra Kline kicks major mics in this book. She was so on point that I actually thought there was more than one narrator for the book.

Kiddos all around for MJ Haag and I cannot wait for Devastation!

Fan fiction writer's almost successful experiment

This story is part of the Beastly Tales series and as such should be reviewed as all three “books” because frankly they’re all the same book. To split this up into three separate items is, well, a bit of a con to the audience.

Book 1 –
The story begins with some effective character introductions, which moves the level of writing beyond the smut of most erotica. But only slightly. The characters are not terribly deep but that is a good thing in a story like this because it avoids clumsy chapters that aren’t relevant to the, lets be honest, soft-core fun. It’s gentle tension building and teasing that is well done.

Book 2
The second part is simply an extension of the first. There’s not a lot to be said on development, as it doesn’t really differ much from the first. Continuing with a slightly heated storyline with the occasional somewhat juicy scene, the plot begins to steer into unnecessary directions. This doesn’t particularly detract from the middle chapter but certainly does set-up the final chapter for crushing boredom.

Book 3
The final chapter of the series spent a very long time, and completely unnecessarily mind you, doing a character reshuffle that simply turned out to be lumbering and graceless. The author finally introduced some level of dialogue and shift away from the 1st person perspective but it was impossible to shake the feeling that so much of it was filler. Even so, this did not help the flow as it seems the author had suddenly forgotten the point of this soft-core tease and mistaken it for an actual story.


Overall the full story should have been about half as long as it was.
It’s very easy listening but absolutely not the best quality of writing.
Better than most amateurish fan-fiction stories like this but definitely not worthy of a 3 book series, as it was undoubtedly trailing off by the end of the second book. A great buildup but massive anticlimax.

The arousal scenes were “achingly” repetitive and just completely lacked any variety in vocabulary. The main character is actually not that likable – her presentation is sickeningly passive-aggressive and unjustly self-righteous.
The two-dimensional character just falls apart by the end of the 2nd book and becomes annoyingly repetitive. For somebody that is supposedly intelligent and studious, she is incredibly stupid and ignorant. What I suspect is the written view of an imbecile for what a clever person is. She’s also annoyingly prude and frigid.

Final note – the first two “books” are written almost entirely in first person. This just feels a little strange.

All this being said - Sierra Kline once again made an excellent delivery of it. Great narrator.